Pallets



June 25, 1968 J, KAT ET AL 3,389,813

PALLETS Filed May 5, 1966 INVENTORS wewsemus JAKOB KAT JOHAN CHRISTI/MN MEUW/SSEN BY MM =%4" ATTORNEYS United States Patent ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGflURE A lift truck pallet for use in handling and transporting material having a plurality of parallel wires sandwiched between and secured to thin flexible sheet material, the wires serving to reinforce the thin flexible sheet material and to substantially support the loaded material without permitting the unsupported middle portion of said pallet from bulging out and also serving to maintain the folded end portionsof said pallet.

The invention relates to pallets for handling material for transport and more particularly to expendable pallets for ultimate disposal as a waste product after an intended use.

Pallets formed of sheet shaped flexible material adapted for transporting a plurality of packages being stacked in such a manner that the lower part of the stack comprises two reentering corners along which two side parts of the pallet are folded so that forks of a lift truck may engage said corners, may be found in the art. A known pallet of this type consists of semi rigid card-board being prescored in a manner to permit its being folded along the re-entering corners of the stack. Consequently this pallet is only suitable for established dimensions of the stack. Further a card-board pallet may tear along the score lines and has a small resistance against dragging on the floor. Last but not least a card-board pallet will be very ductile so that in the loaded condition, e.g., when lifted by the forks of a lift truck, the bottom will bulge outwardly and consequently the packages on the pallet run the risk of falling from the stack when after that the pallet is placed on a flat floor.

It is the object of this invention to produce a flexible, simple, economic, strong and universal pallet adapted for stacks of any dimensions.

It is another object to produce a flexible pallet which may be folded anywhere and without the dependence on score lines.

Another object is a pallet made of foldable material which has a small elongation in the loaded condition so that its bottom will remain rather flat.

It is another object to produce a pallet adapted to take up heavy loads.

Another object of the invention is to produce a pallet the folded condition of which may be fixed.

To this end the pallet is made of sheet shaped flexible material consisting of thin paper, plastic or metal comprising a system of parallel wires transverse to the forks of a lift truck if engaging the pallet, which system of wires presents the small elasticity of tensile resistant steel and the plastic flexibility of mild steel wire (annealed ironwire).

The invention may comprise many kinds of flexible sheets and wires, e.g. a net of wires only, a sheet with a great number of apertures. It is preferred that the system of parallel wires comprises wires of tensile resistant steel or material with substantially the same small elongation characteristics, and other wires of mild steel (so called 3,389,813 Patented June 25, 1968 ironwire) or material with substantially the same plastic flexibility.

The invention may also comprise many materials or combinations thereof, e.g. kraft paper, non-woven, clupak, plastic. Prefarably the wires are inserted between the sheets of a paper lamination provided with glue, bitume or such like materials.

The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention will be best understood by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a flexible sheet as it appears in pallet forming position and with the load thereon.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of a paper lamination reinforced with steel wires and comprising annealed ironwires, from which a pallet may be formed.

Referring to FIG. 1 the pallet 1 consists of a sheet of flexible material on which a number of packages are stacked in such a manner that the lower part of the stack comprises two re-entering corners. The side parts 2 and 3 of the sheet are folded along the re-entering corners 4 and 5 of the stack, the stack serving as folding gauge. The ends 6, 7 of the folded part are pinched between two layers of the stack. The forks of a lift truck are indicated with 8 and are inserted in the re-entering parts 4, 5 of the stack.

This pallet may be cut from a roll of flexible material. The width of the sheet is determined by the length of the forks 8. In this width direction the stack may protrude somewhat.

The length of the sheet cut from the roll is independent of the dimensions of the stack; only the distance between the forks is a factor for determining the length of the sheet.

There are many possibilities for the material of the flexible pallet, e.g. a wire net only, steel Wire reinforced plastic foil, non-woven, metal sheet, clupak. Further the pallet sheet may comprise a number of apertures. However, it is preferred to employ a paper lamination according to FIG. 2 consisting of sheets 9, 10 of kraft paper, which sheets are adhered to one another by means of a moisture resistant, water-proof and corrosion resistant adhesive, such as bitume. Between the sheets of the paper lamination reinforcing wires 11 have been inserted. These reinforcing wires are directed parallel to one another and transverse to the forks of a lift truck if engaging the pallet. For the reinforcing wires may be employed wires of natural or synthetic fibers or steel wires with a diameter of 0.3-0.6 mm. The distance between the wires is for instance 1-5 cm. It is noted that the reinforcing wires have to provide the portative power, wherein to avoid tearing of the sheets the elongation of the sheets if loaded must not be smaller than the elongation of the reinforcing wires.

It is apparent that the load applied in such a manner that the reinforcement may decrease from the edges to the middle range of the pailet, so that in that direction the distance between the wires may increase and/or the thickness of the wires may decrease.

As steel wires have the tendency to spring back and may be bent permanently with considerable difiiculty, one or more plastic flexible wires 12, e.g. annealed iron wires, may be positioned parallel to the reinforcing wires 11.

An important advantage of pallets of wire reinforced flexible material is that the stack of packages is pressed to a very steady pile by the forces exerted by the forks of a lift truck, which forces have an oblique and upward direction and intersect in the middle range of the stack.

Consequently the stack will not overturn if the lift truck takes a curve.

The reinforcing wires have a small elasticity and a small expansion in the loaded condition, so that the bottom of the pallet remains rather flat.

Further the pallet sheet may be folded on any place and no score lines are necessary so that it is universal and suitable for any stack dimensions.

Finally it is noted that the pallet made according to the invention is economical in that it may be disposed after use, but more than one use is possible even in those cases where the successive stacks may have different dimensions.

What we claim is:

1. A pallet for use with a fork-type lift truck in the handling and transporting of material comprising aplurality of wires disposed in spaced parallel rows and sandwiched between and secured to thin flexible sheet material, the material stacked on'said pallet forming reentering corners providing access for the forks of said lift truck to engage the ends of said pallet which are folded to conform to said re-entering corners, said reentering corners being disposed at o posite ends of said pallet and transverse to said wires, and said wires serving to reinforce said thin flexible sheet material and to substantially support the loaded material without permitting the unsupported middle portion of said pallet from bulging out and also serving to maintain the folded end 3. A pallet according to claim 2, wherein said wires which serve to reinforce said thin flexible sheet material and to substantially support the loaded material are composed of a tensile resistant material having predetermined elongation characteristics, and said wires which serve to maintain the folded end portions of said pallet are composed of a flexible material which maintains the shape of said folded re-entering corners of said pallet.

4. A pallet according to claim 3, wherein said spacing between the parallel rows of wires increases from the longitudinal edges of said pallet to the longitudinal axis thereof.

5. A pallet according to claim 3, wherein the diameter of said reinforcing wires is smaller than the diameter of said Wires which maintain the folded end portions of said pallet.

6. A pallet according to claim 3, wherein said wires which serve to reinforce said thin flexible sheet material and to substantially support the loaded material are steel wires, and said wires which serve to maintain the folded end portions of said pallet are mild steel wires.

'7. A pallet according to claim 6, wherein said thin flexible sheet material is kraft paper and said wires and said kraft paper are secured to each other by means 0 an adhesive.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 7/ 1963 Canada. 6/1965 Great Britain. 

